1. Field
The invention is in the field of apparatus and methods for coextruding fat and relatively lean meat through respectively different portions of an extrusion die to produce simulated cuts of meats, such as bacon, steaks, roasts, etc.
2. State of the Art
Apparatus has been developed heretofore by employees of Beehive Machinery, Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah, for the coextrusion of fat and relatively lean meat to produce various simulated cuts of meat. Such apparatus comprises a compound die, having separate die passages for fat and relatively lean meat components of the final product, and a convergent discharge conduit connected to the outlet end of the die. The fat and lean meat materials, fed under pressure to the respective die passages, are discharged from the die into the discharge conduit and are pressed together therein by reason of the convergent nature of such conduit.
Although the apparatus has proven very successful in practice, difficulty has been experienced in obtaining particular desired patterns of fat and meat and in the reproducibility of particular patterns. It has been found that a variety of factors influence pattern formation in the product other than the particular pattern exhibited by the die itself. Thus, the character of the raw materials, the feeding thereof by the apparatus, the manner of flow through the various conduits of the apparatus all have an influence on the appearance of the final product. Since it is usually desirable that the final product closely simulate natural cuts of meat in appearance as well as in chewability, control of the extrusion procedure has become important. This is demonstrated by improvements (contained in FIGS. 10, 11, and 12 of Archie Rae McFarland et al. continuation-in-part application Ser. No. 956,972, filed Nov. 2, 1978) to the original apparatus of parent application Ser. No. 772,733, filed Feb. 28, 1977, which improvements are in the form of removable plugs for insertion in the conduits leading to the respective die passages as a control for material flow through such conduits.